Many computer memory systems employ virtual addresses. Generally, virtual addresses are addresses of virtual memory locations. These virtual addresses may not be referenced by actual hardware, but can be used by computer programs. A virtual address may be different than the physical address that is indicative of a physical memory location in a computer memory. For example, a computer program or operating system may use virtual addressing to implement a particular memory organization scheme. The use of virtual addresses may allow the memory scheme to be implemented more efficiently. In addition, the use of virtual addressing allows a computer program or operating system to be used with different types and brands of physical memory, because the program or operating system is not tailored to the particular physical addresses associated with any particular memory type or brand.
However, in order for the program or operating system to interact with the physical memory, each virtual address may be translated to a physical memory address. This can be done with a memory management unit (MMU). An MMU performs a translation function to translate a virtual address into a physical address. To perform the address translation function, the memory management unit may use a table showing the relation between the virtual and physical addresses. Such a table can be stored in the computer memory. In other systems, the address translation function may be performed using one or more arithmetic operations. However, each of these translation approaches may require be undesirably complex, and may consume excess time or power. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved memory management system and method.